DNC: The noose is tightening around House Majority Leader Tom DeLay [View All]

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Learn how Tom DeLay and his PAC laundered illegal special-interest corporate cash through the national Republican Party and then back to races in Texas.



The noose is tightening around House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) for his involvement with Texas for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), his political action committee currently under investigation for breaking Texas campaign finance laws.

Here's how Tom DeLay and his PAC laundered illegal special-interest corporate cash through the national Republican Party and then back to races in Texas.......

http://www.democrats.org/specialreports/trmpac/index.html

In Texas, It's Illegal to Use Corporate Money for Political Activity. For more than a century, it has been illegal in Texas to use corporate money to fund a political campaign. It is legal, however, to use such funds for administrative costs of a political action committee.1



Step 1: DeLay's TRMPAC Collected $190,000 in Corporate Contributions. Documents in a wave of recent Texas grand jury indictments show six "corporate donations totaling $190,000 were made to TRMPAC."2

Step 2: DeLay's TRMPAC Director Donated $190,000 to Republican National Committee. According to the Washington Post, TRMPAC Director John Colyandro sent $190,000 in one lump sum to the RNC's Republican National State Elections Committee. Jim Ellis, the director of DeLay's national PAC, Americans for a Republican Majority, "delivered the check to the RNC and gave the committee a list of names and the check amounts, totaling $190,000, to be mailed back to the Texas legislative candidates in noncorporate money."2

Step 3: RNC Donated $190,000 to TRMPAC-Supported Texas Candidates. The RNC's State Election Committee then transferred $190,000 to seven TRMPAC-supported Texas House candidates. "Three weeks later, the committee sent checks in the equivalent amount that had been raised from individual donors to seven Republican statehouse candidates supported by TRMPAC. Texas law prohibits the use of corporate funds in election campaigns."2



Grand Jury Indicts Corporations and Three DeLay Associates. A Travis County grand jury returned 32 felony indictments of eight corporations and three political associates connected to Tom DeLay. The indictments accuse Jim Ellis, John Colyandro, and Warren RoBold of violating the Texas Election Code by funneling money raised through corporate contributions directly into political activities. Colyandro ran the political action committee, Texas for a Republican Majority, an offshoot of DeLay's PAC, Americans for a Republican Majority. He is accused of illegally using more than $200,000 in corporate donations in the 2002 House races.3

Subpoenaed Documents Show DeLay Had Direct Involvement with Fundraising Campaign. According to the New York Times, "Documents, which were entered into evidence last week in a related civil trial in Austin, the state capital, suggest that Mr. DeLay personally forwarded at least one large corporate check to the committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, and that he was in direct contact with lobbyists for some of the nation's largest companies on the committee's behalf."4

Sources: 1San Antonio Express News, 3/5/05; 2Washington Post, 3/4/05; 3 Fort Worth Star Telegram, 9/26/04; 4 New York Times, 3/9/05